OOC: Surely Salmond not getting in is bordering on the ASB? If he had failed to get his FPTP seat he'd have came in on the list vote. In general I would see a Labour executive losing public support over the economic nose dive, seeing as they are very much tarred with the London brush.
OOC: Not really. Do you remember all of the news about win or bust for him in Gordon? It really was. In 2003, the SNP gained just one list member in the North East, and it was pointed out that if the list results in the North East were similar, but the SNP gained Dundee West, with just a small Labour majority then they would not even get the list seat. So the SNP doing better, slightly but not much, means Salmond not getting in. If your unhappy with that though, I can change as I'm easy either way.
I reckon though that if he did lose in '07 then that would be his final hurrah as SNP leader, given the expectation the nats had. It would be his Kinnock in '92 moment, only with no John Smith or Tony Blair. Given that, I reckon whoever took the reigns of the SNP would lead them downwards in the fashion of Mr Swinney. I mean to say, Bill Wilson, the biggest nutter imaginable, could be in with a shot..........
Given the quality behind him, I reckon they would fall behind when he goes.
Also, imagine no cash for policies in the fashion that Alex Salmond has revelled in(Donald Trump and Soapy Souter et al.).
As to Labours popularity, I never said they were extremely popular, I simply said the SNP vote had collapsed after a high tide. I do think Jack would follow the Rhodri Morgan route though, which would lead to more differences between Scottish and UK Labour and a very interesting four years, albiet not the constitional stuff foisted on us by our nationalist overlords.
Perhaps if the SNP had won we wouldn't be staring down the barrel of the £800 million bill (and rising!) for Edinburgh's nightmarish tram line? Imagine what we could have done with that kind of money! Council tax reform? Student debt help? The poor students wouldn't be forking out the best part of £3k in graduation tax at the very least.
No! But we would be facing a bill of hundreds of millions for upgrading the A9(which runs through several SNP/Tory marginals, funny that).
As for council tax reform, what a joke...I mean to say, they basically say its an income tax, but not an income on the individual(that would make too much sense)but a tax on the household, meaning that if a part-time college lecturer and her husband in the police lived together they would be paying thousands more than at present, that is to say nothing about a house with five flatmates on part-time jobs earning £6-8,000 pa who would be paying the upper rate!
The SNP never thought it through, and I have not even mentioned people who only earn money through shares, who could earn millions and would be paying nothing. Also, how would it be "local income tax"when the rate is decided by John Swinney?
The SNP would be a disaster for Scotland.